I Laughed The Loudest
by Joltz
Summary: Marco goes off the deep end to the lyrics of Adam's Song. I think I missed a verse, but the site I got the lyrics from is freaked out, so I'm not suprised.


Marco slammed his door and lowered his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn't even try to hold them back; he'd been doing that since this whole stupid war started. Feelings that he tried so hard to repress and diminish broke free and it simply overwhelmed him. Emotions that he didn't know he could even feel after all the fighting and killing slammed into him like waves against a rocky beach. He was sad and angry and tired. Tired of it all.   
  
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I never thought I'd die alone   
I laughed the loudest who'd have known   
I traced the cord back to the wall   
No wonder it was never plugged in at all   
I took my time, I hurried up   
The choice was mine, I didn't think enough   
I'm too depressed to go on   
You'll be sorry when I'm gone  
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Hysterical laughter escaped his lips after Erek relayed the last mission. Yet another kandrona. Yet another pool. It never stops. Dear God, it would never stop! They just keep coming and coming and coming, no matter who they killed or what was destroyed, all those slugs did was re-build.  
  
He just kept laughing, tears rolling down his face.  
  
"I'd like to know what the hell is so funny!" Rachel snapped, her hands nervously picking at the strands of her long, blond hair.  
  
The rest of the group was staring at him stonily, desperate to find something funny in this whole situation. They were afraid and upset. They needed humor. That was his calling. Be the funny man, Marco. The comic relief. Dance, monkey boy, entertain us! Keep the rest of us sane, Marco!   
  
It all would have worked out fine except for the fact that he didn't give a damn anymore. He didn't care. Not about what happened to them, or anyone else, or this goddamn planet. He finally snapped, and he knew it.   
  
"Don't you see?" He asked, smiling like something was terribly funny about the situation. "Whatever we do, they undo easily. Some pool damage here, a lost life there, it doesn't matter." By now he was laughing so hard that he could hardly speak. "The only thing that we're destroying is ourselves. Isn't it hilarious?"  
  
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I never conquered, rarely came   
16 just held such better days   
Days when I still felt alive   
We couldn't wait to get outside   
The world was wide, too late to try   
The tour was over I'd survived   
I couldn't wait till I got home   
To pass the time in my room alone  
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{{I've heard better.}} Tobias remarked dryly.  
  
"Marco," Jake said, his expression still stony. Didn't he get the joke? The joke that the whole freakin' galaxy was playing on them? "I want you to sit this one out. You aren't well. Get some sleep."  
  
Sleep? SLEEP? Cripes, sleep? Marco shook his head, but began morphing osprey to fly home. He'd show them all what sleep could do for him.  
  
He flew through his window, landing and demorphing. He giggled constantly as he walked to the medicine cabinet, pulling out a plastic jar of sleeping pills. They were Nora's, but she didn't use them anymore.   
  
He took the entire bottle.   
  
No one would miss them.  
  
No one would miss him.  
  
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I never thought I'd die alone   
Another six months I'll be unknown   
Give all my things to all my friends   
You'll never set foot in my room again   
You'll close it off, board it up   
Remember the time that I spilled the cup   
Of apple juice in the hall   
Please tell mom this is not her fault  
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He flopped down on his bed, and tossed his old softball up and down. His stomach hurt, for some reason. It wouldn't for long, though.  
  
Yeah, Jake was right, sleep was the answer. He smiled, the baseball falling and clunking him on the forehead.   
  
That damn poodle barked, but it was far away now. So was the headache and the stomach pain.   
  
Yawning, he let his eyelids shut out his blurry vision.  
  
He wasn't afraid anymore. After all, he was Marco. The joker. The comedian. The jester. That's all life was, anyway. One huge laugh-and-a-half. Everything he did was to amuse others.  
  
He let one last smile play across his lips.  
  
If that were true, then this would be the biggest joke he ever played.  
  
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I never conquered, rarely came   
But tomorrow holds such better days   
Days when I can still feel alive   
When I can't wait to get outside   
The world is wide, the time goes by   
The tour is over, I've survived   
I can't wait till I get home   
To pass the time in my room alone  
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End file.
